University of North Florida Student Senate
Senate Meeting Minutes – November 10th 2014 – 6:30 to 9:00 PM – Senate Chambers
I.
Call to Order
-Meeting is called to order at 6:46PM
II.
Pledge of Allegiance(Sargent at Arms Rader)
III.
Roll Call – Senate President Pro-Tempore Shomari Gloster– sgaspt@unf.edu
- Quorum is established with 26 voting members.
IV.
Approval of Minutes – October 27, 2014
-Senator Grantham: I move to approve the minutes from October 27, 2014. Second. All in favor. Moved
V.
Approval of Agenda
-Senator Rader: I move to add SB-14F-2816 to 1st read. Second. Discussion. All in favor. Moved.
-Senator Baker: Motion to add the override of OB-14F-2810 to 2nd read. Second. Discussion. Roll call vote: 25-0-1.
Motion passes.
-Senator Gloster: Motion to add 10 minutes to the Senate President’s report. Second. Discussion. All in favor.
Moved.
-Senator Wollam: Motion to add SB-14F-2815 to 2nd read. Second. Discussion. All in favor. Moved.
-Senator Kishek: I move to approve tonight’s agenda as amended. Second. Discussion. All in favor. Moved.
VI.
Recognition of Students Seeking Appointment
-none.
VII.
Student Remarks (3 minutes per Student)
-none.
VIII.
Guest Speakers
a. Coach Matthew Driscoll, Coach of the Men’s Basketball Team
-Tomorrow is Veterans Day, make sure to show support. Basketball schedule has been passed out to you all.
We start next Monday night. The other night 250 people danced in the Thrilling Dead, and over 1,000 people
watching. It is so important to be students here. The only people that can make a difference are us. You guys
have a great opportunity to be a servant of our University. It is an exciting year, we got picked to finish 2nd.
We have a chance to be really good. On January 6th, put it on your calendar, we are having a huge come back
party at the Arena. There is no place like this, you chose this place. There is no one like you, so make a
difference.
IX.
Office of Elections
a. Elections Commissioner – True Rains sgaelections@unf.edu (5 minutes)
-I am excited to announce that we had our first contested election since 2 years. I appreciate everyone who
helped with that. Over 50% of students that voted, voted online, which we offered for the 1st time ever this
semester. In the Spring I am expecting more candidates and voters. The validation bill is going before you
tonight, once that passes we can swear in all our new senators.
X.
Judicial Branch Report
a. Chief Justice – Daniel Powers sgajc@unf.edu (5 minutes)
-Not Present.
XI.
Executive Branch Reports
a. Osprey Productions – John Chwalisz opdir@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-Thrilling Dead did get postponed due to the rain, the green was flooded. It was moved to Thursday,
XII.
“Nightmare in November”, we had over 1,000 students in attendance. We have the official video up on
YouTube. This upcoming Wednesday we are showing the “Guardians of the Galaxy” in the Student Union
auditorium at 7:00PM and 9:45PM. On November 20th we have Battle of the Woods out at Eco Adventure at
6:00PM. Elevate is this upcoming Monday at 5:00PM at Starbucks. Right after that is the basketball game at
7:00PM. Karaoke in the boathouse is on November 18th. Harvest Fest is on November 19th.
b. Club Alliance – Justin Dato sgacadi@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-We have a General Body meeting this Friday. Then December 5th we have the Presidents Function, Jason’s
deli will be catering. Next Tuesday we will be having Religious and Faith-based specialized club fairs from
10:00-3:00 in the Student Union Plaza. We will be having a survey going around to clubs and you all finding
out what students want from Club Alliance as a resource and an agency. We have a date planned for Spring
Bash, March 3rd.
c. Attorney General – Matthew Harris sgaag@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-All 6 Judicial Complaints in the elections have been resolved. Over all it was a smooth process. I gave you all
a copy of AG interpretation 8 for this fall. I issued it almost two weeks ago. It dealt with a question from the
Elections Commissioner about where we post our CRs. My answer was: on the SG website. If you have any
questions about that you can ask me. There was a question about when we will be able to install the new
senators. Under the constitution and Chapter 6 we cannot install the senators until the meeting following the
elections validations. So that would be the 24th of November.
d. Treasurer – Morgan Wolf sgasbt@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-The scholarship process has come to an end, so all of the recipients will be told before thanksgiving break.
The new senate leadership scholarship, we will only be offering those in the spring semester. So both the
judicial and senate leadership scholarship will begin in the spring. The previous elected senators will be
grandfathered into the old system. I have met with all of the indexes to get an idea for our budget next year.
If you have any questions about the annual budget process please let me know. Just as a side note, I wanted
to thank everyone who donated to T-Shirts.
e. Vice President – Anthony Stevens sgavpres@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-I would like to yield my time to the President.
f. President – Joseph Turner sgapres@unf.edu (8 minutes)
-The library will be open 24 hours 5 days a week starting in the spring semester as a pilot program. We have
gotten positive feedback about this. There is a new blue structure outside the Student Union parking garage,
that will display if the garage is open or full. That should be operational within the upcoming weeks. I am
very glad that all of our hard work came to play and we had an election. I think we really need to come up
with strategies for the amount of students we engage. I will be calling an elections ad hoc committee to
discuss how to get more voters in our election. I will be asking the Senate President to forward two senators
to this committee. I vetoed OB-14F-2810 solely due to the change in Chapter 408 which extends the 11 day
deadline to get passed legislation on the SG website to 16 days. I think the extension is unnecessary. We
should be working to innovate and improve our processes in ways we serve our students. I will not sign
anything into law that makes this government less transparent and less accountable. I recommend that this
statute that was previously amended is amended and forwarded to my desk again. I suggest replacing the
current language in that particular section with “…all records must be uploaded online within 2 business days
being made effective.”
o Senator Grantham: Could you clarify what that change would do to the process? - It would
significantly alter the amount of time which we would be accountable to the student body
and have to get our records online. Currently it is up to three weeks after a bill passes this
body. It is just a simple change that has to be made on a word document and then put on
the website. It does not take 16 days, and it should not take 16 days. We should be
improving and need to be more accountable to the student body.
o Senator Brown: You are changing it from 11 days to 2 days? - I’m recommending changing it
to 2 after being effective. So if the Senate President takes 5 days and then I take 5 days, it
would be 2 more days to get it online. This would be a total of 12 days, which is longer than
what we have now.
o Senator Guerra: What do you attribute the low voting in this election to? - Students weren’t
used to voting; we haven’t had an election in a while. I think we can also do a better job
marketing.
Legislative Cabinet Reports
a. Constitution and Statutes Committee – Chairman Shomari Gloster sgaspt@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-In our last Constitution & Statutes meeting we had 4 voting members. On the agenda we had four items. We
b.
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e.
had OB-14F-2810. We also had a simple resolution per the Attorney Generals interpretation, which brought
forth SR-14F-2812 which deals with the senate absence policy. This SR was passed 4-0-0. I will suggest minor
revisions to that tonight. We also had appeal hearings in our meeting last week. Only one appeal hearing was
heard because the other two senators had an appeal hearing before. The one that could have been heard was
tabled. I had stated that I was going to file impeachment against the two senators. I am not going to file
those articles, one resigned and the other one will no longer be a senator. In closing I would like to make this
body known of my duties: I am to assume the duties of the Senate President in the event of his or her
absence, to serve as Chair of the Constitution and Statutes Committee and as a non-voting member of all
other Senate standing committees, to prepare the Senate Chambers for each Senate meeting, to conduct roll
call at the beginning and end of each Senate meeting, to keep a record of attendance on the O Drive, to
enforce the Legislative absence policy, to be responsible for educating all Senators as to the SG absence
policy, to assist the Senate President with filing information relevant to the body, to assist in the coordination
of the Legislative Cabinet and assist the Senate President with supervision, to make available proxy vote
forms and envelopes addressed to the Senate Pro-Tempore in the event that a Senator wishes to vote during
an absence at a Senate or Committee meeting, to properly document, file and save proxy vote forms in the
event of a discrepancy. I just want to each and every one of you that every presentation given in this room is
going to be a presentation, but I really want to make sure that everything that is being contested is what all of
us are making a decision on.
Budget and Allocations Committee – Chairman Blake Kennedy sgabac@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-Report given by Senate President Ramirez : The current account totals are as follows: Travel Requests-$18,323.56;
Special Requests- $286,890.81, If the Special Request passes tonight it will be- $246,890.81; Salary Reserves$57,978.08. In the B&A committee last week for travel requests the Student Therapy Association requested
$1,985, this passed 8-0-0. For special requests, the homecoming committee requested $40,000 for the spring
comedy show, this passed 8-0-0.
Government Oversight Committee – Chairwoman Amanda Wollam sgagoc@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-Last week in our committee we prepared ourselves in the event of a judicial appointment. We practiced
questions, and there is currently one seat open for appointment this fall. Tonight I am sponsoring the
validation bill. I suggest you all pass it so we can move forward with swearing in our new senators.
University and Student Affairs Committee – Chairman Chase Baker sgausac@unf.edu (3 minutes)
-At our last meeting we talked about town hall, new osprey voice questions, and finals frenzy. *shows results
from town hall*. The Osprey Voice questions for this week are as follows: 1). Are you in favor of a napping
area on campus? 2) Did you know that any student can write a bill? 3) Would you be interested in attending a
bill writing workshop? 4) Did you vote in our last election? 5) Where do students eat most often off campus?
Osprey voice is this Wednesday and Thursday. I will send around a sign-up sheet. Finals Frenzy is a ways
away, but I am going to go ahead and send around a signup sheet for that.
o Senator Brown: Did we put the bill template online? - Not yet.
o Senator Gomez: Can you elaborate on what Finals Frenzy is? - We will have the green books
and will be giving out food during finals week.
o Senator Matejka: I have a lot of classmates saying their professors don’t provide scantrons,
will we still be handing those out? - Yes.
o Senator Cepoi: I see that the UNF challenge course is not being used as much, and I have
heard a lot of students saying to book something there, what solutions do you have for that?
- I don’t have a formal answer for you right now on that.
Senate President- Kaitlin Ramirez sgasp@unf.edu (15 minutes)
-First, Senators elect congratulations. I am sorry for the confusion; we still will be doing your headshots
tonight. However, you will be getting sworn in at the next senate meeting which is November 24th. On our
agenda we have the legislative confirmation for the Parliamentarian, Caleb Grantham. We need to re-open the
agenda to amend that. It has been brought to my attention that in our statutes it is said that this is an election
for the parliamentarian. So, we will be taking nominations for that tonight. Newly elected senators, you are
open to that as well. We have Roberts’s rules books available to you. As President Turner mentioned, I need
two senators for the elections ad-hoc committee, if you are interested please let me know. I was informed
earlier today that Attorney General Harris has interpreted that according to our constitution we need to hold
legislative cabinet elections in two weeks. Senate President Pro-Tempore Gloster you informed me this today
about this? Can you tell me how this came about?
o Senate President Pro-Temp Gloster: We had a conversation about why it should’ve been
this way after the general election. We should be electing new senator officers after general
elections, in Article 2 Section 3. But there was another section that said annually, so that is
the question at hand.
-Senate President Ramirez: Attorney General Harris I emailed you to meet you before senate. How and
why was this brought up today?
o Attorney General Harris: I was looking at the agenda, and it occurred to me how senate
elects their cabinet. I looked in the Policies and Procedures under section 4 details that the
legislative cabinet is elected after each general election through the process of taking
nominations the week of validations and then elections after the new senators are sworn in. I
made the Pro-Temp aware because I know it’s difficult to catch the Senate President on
Mondays.
-Senate President Ramirez: Senate President Pro-Tempore Gloster, I would like to ask you how you felt
when you found out this information.
o Senate President Pro-Temp Gloster: It says what it says. My feelings aren’t important. My
issue is that it hasn’t been done in the past. It can be argued that it hasn’t happened because
we haven’t had general elections. It can be argued that it hasn’t happened because past
attorney generals haven’t seen it. I feel that this can create conflict if the leadership changes.
I let my fellow cabinet members know after I found this information.
-Senate President Ramirez: Chairman Baker, how did you feel when he shared this information with you?
o Chairman Baker: I think it was unnecessary. I think it makes sense to do what it says in the
constitution and move the officers annually.
-Senate President Ramirez: Chairwoman Wollam, how did you feel when Senate President Pro-Tempore
Gloster shared this information with you?
o Chairwoman Wollam: Obviously I was shocked, since it hasn’t happened in the past. I was
expecting the transition to happen in the spring. My main concern is the work that my
committee has been doing. We have set timelines for the year and my concern is that a
transition of leadership might affect this work.
-Senate President Ramirez: Let me state to all of you, the staff, and the Spinnaker never in the Student
Government history here at UNF has the legislative cabinet elections taken place twice in one legislative term.
We are in the current 2014-2015 legislative term. This has never happened in our national government, which
we replicate after. My only understanding at this point is that somehow there is an attempt to remove us from
our positions. A majority of our cabinet was elected at the beginning of this term. The B&A chair and GO
chair have been filled when there were vacancies. If this became an official interpretation, this would affect all
of us. Everything is revolved around the legislative term, the 2014-2015 year. Our legislative cabinet salaries
are budgeted through the year not the fall and spring semesters. The B&A chair does a lot of work with the
treasurer in preparation for the meetings in the spring. If Chairman Kennedy was voted out that process
would be hindered and seriously hurt. Budget deliberations are one of the most important things we do. If
things don’t run smoothly we could outrage a lot of entities on campus. Attorney General Harris can change
this through his interpretation. Now if he hasn’t filed something official. If he hasn’t filed an interpretation
than the constitution states clearly as day elections take place annually. We still have to cover our bases. If
someone files after the two weeks go by, and the Attorney General still interprets this it’ll puts us out of noncompliance. Our constitution says annually in black and white. This has happened time and time again. I
thought we resolved the issue back in July. He came after me again with the same charges of not updating the
website. Our website has always been up to date. We came up with a solution, which President Turner
vetoed. I am not going to accept this disrespect of our branch anymore. With the Spinnaker here we are
going to look like fools because instead of attending to business we are too busy being harassed. The
Spinnaker is here so I want to go on record, this looks like harassment. Maybe this issue needs to go outside
the University; at worst a law suit could be brought. No one should have to face this type of harassment. This
needs to be addressed. Senators what do we do? It must stop. If we cannot correct this, then yes, this issue
must go outside the University. I believe we can stop it. Regardless of personal feelings, you are senators of
the University of North Florida. We must adhere to the constitution. Be powerful and always do the right
thing. This must stop. I hereby bring impeachment charges against Matthew Harris. By orders of the Senate
President the following student government member Matthew Harris, Attorney General, is hereby impeached
from office under the following articles chapter 301.1subsection f, chapter 307, and chapter 1303 for
malfeasance and misfeasance. On October 8th, 2014 the Attorney General announced the creation of the
position Lieutenant Attorney General. Only the Student Body President may create a position for executive
cabinet. This position was not advertised. Per impeachment in Title 7, by presenting the impeachment papers
it requires a majority vote. The Attorney General will be subpoenaed on November 24th.

Senate President Ramirez: I motion for articles of impeachment against Attorney
General Harris. Second. Discussion
-Student Body President Turner: You don’t determine whether or not there is an adequate interpretation
being made, you make the laws, if you have a question about what a law says or does not say, you ask the
Attorney General, that is his job. If you do not like what he says, you can challenge it in the court, and there is
a process for that as well. You do not impeach somebody, or attempt to impeach somebody because you
don’t like what they say, that’s not our process. This is very clearly something that it is not. This is not Matt
not being able to do his job; this is Kaitlin not liking getting called out for not doing hers. This is
inappropriate, this is ridiculous, and this makes me ashamed to be a member of this organization.
XIII.
Adjournment
- Senate President Pro-Tempore Gloster: As the chair, due to the nature of what’s going on this meeting is
hereby adjourned at 7:53PM.
Minutes prepared by: Leah Tolisano, Senate Secretary.